Hello everyone!
Here above you have a link to an online activity I would like you to do at home. It’s easy and I hope it will help you to review some important concepts we have studied this year.Write the questions and the answers in your notebooks; and of course, write your score in your notebook and in the blog.

Hello everybody! We have been working hard on science this evaluation. We have studied about:

Life processes.

Cells. Animal and plant cells. Specilazed cells. Tissues. The main plant and animal organs. The Human Body Organ Systems and their function.

The Human Skeleton.

The life cycle of the almond tree. Flower, pollination, fertilization, growth…, fruit and seed.

Venemous animals.

Snails. Classification. Internal and external anatomy. Life Cycle.

To learn about all these topics we have used photocopies, web links, lab practice (including a terrarium for snails), aula virtual, a hands on skeleton craft, visit to exhibition, answering and/or making questions, quizses and tests, working individualy, in pairs, little groups or all together.

Woh! We have worked a lot! Now it’s time to finish with SNAILS. But don’t forget we are expecting them to mate and reproduce so that we can observe their whole life cycle in the LAB.

Snails can be found in gardens, in ponds and even in the sea. They belong to a group of animals with a soft body called molluscs (mollusks) which are related to oysters, clams, and other shellfish. Characteristically they have soft, unsegmented bodies. Normally, their soft bodies are protected by a hard shell. The scientific name for the garden snail is Helix aspersa. It is a gastropod which in latin means, gastro for stomach and pod for foot or just “a belly footed animal”. The body of the snail is long, moist and slimy. It has a shell to protect its soft body. When the snail is disturbed, it simply withdraws or pulls itself back into its shell. The snail also retreats into its shell and seals the entrance in dry weather to protect its body from drying up. A snail is most active at night and on cloudy days. It does not like the sunshine very much. During very cold weather or winter, it hibernates in the ground.

Snails have different shaped shells. It can be a single shell that is rounded, spiral high and pointed or it can be flat.

Some people keep snails in aquariums together with their fish. However, they must make sure that they control the number because snails reproduce rapidly !!

Snails do not like hot and dry conditions. They like it moist or humid and not too bright. You can collect some snails and put them into a transparent container. Put some leaves in it, keep it moist and you can observe and see how a snail moves and also its mouth part.

Snails can live up to 5 to 10 years. Some have been known to live up to 15 years.

EYE ANATOMY:
Our eyes are organs that let us see. Eyes detect both brightness and color. Having two eyes separated on our face enables us to have depth perception (the ability to see the world in three dimensions – 3D).

HOW WE SEE: A whole series of events happens in order for us to see something.
First, light must reflect off an object. The light travels through the clear cornea of the eye, through the pupil and then the lens, which focuses the light onto the retina (the sensory tissue lining the back of the eye). In the retina, cells called rods detect light (they are photoreceptors) and cones detect colors. The rods and cones convert light rays into electrical impulses that are transmited to the brain along the optic nerve. The brain interprets the signals from the eyes and we then “see” what we are looking at.

Here are some videos to help you prepare your “EYE” presentations.

I hope you enjoy them.

Here are some definitions to add to your list. Check the ones you don’t have. What do they refer to? Do you know about any other sight misfunction or desease?

Definitions:

Aqueous humor – the clear, watery fluid inside the eye. It provides nutrients to the eye.Astigmatism – a condition in which the lens is warped, causing images not to focus properly on the retina.Binocular vision – the coordinated use of two eyes which gives the ability to see the world in three dimensions – 3D.Cones – cells the in the retina that sense color. People have three types of cones, L cones that sense long wavelengths (reds, yellows), M cones that sense medium wavelengths (greens), and S cones that sense medium wavelengths (violets, blues).Cornea – the clear, dome-shaped tissue covering the front of the eye.Eyebrow – a patch of dense hair located above the eye.Eyelash – one of the many hairs on the edge of the eyelids.Eyelid – the flap of skin that can cover and protect the eye.Farsighted – (also called hyperopia) a condition in which distant objects are seen more clearly than nearby objects because light is focused behind the retina, not on it.Iris – the colored part of the eye – it controls the amount of light that enters the eye by changing the size of the pupil.Lens – a crystalline structure located just behind the iris – it focuses light onto the retina.Nearsighted – (also called myopia) a condition in which nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects because light is focused in front of the the retina, not on it.Optic nerve – (also called cranial nerve II) the nerve that transmits electrical impulses from the retina to the brain.Pupil – the opening in the center of the iris- it changes size as the amount of light changes (the more light, the smaller the hole).Retina – light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye. It contains millions of photoreceptors (rods and cones) that convert light rays into electrical impulses that are relayed to the brain via the optic nerve.Rods – cells the in the retina that sense brightness (they are photoreceptors). Night vision involves mostly rods (not cones). There are many more rods than cones.Tear – clear, salty liquid that is produced by glands in the eyes.Vitreous – a thick, transparent liquid that fills the center of the eye – it is mostly water and gives the eye its form and shape (also called the vitreous humor).

What were the reasons given by Chema Caballero for recruiting children as soldiers?

Which position does Spain occupy in the ranking of countries that export weapons?

When did war end?

Which position does Sierra Leone occupy in the Human development index?

Homework: Friday 19th November. Answer the questions and post the answers to the blog. Write a comment on Chema Caballero’s talk (maximum 50 words) . You do not need to summarise the talk. Write about the aspects you found most interesting: the facts that surprised you most, the things you’ve learnt .

– All the information you can gather about the orchard and crops (germination, growth, flowering, pollination, fecundation, soil, water and temperature conditions , soil needs of nutrients NPK, desease and treatments, ecological crops?…).

On Thursday, in our tutoring time, I will give you the instructions and a photocopy to help you get started. You can write in Catalan, Spanish or English. All three languages will be fine!